Stay Connected

Law Library

Chesapeake Public Law Library

About the Law Library

The Chesapeake Public Law Library provides the Chesapeake community with free information about legal procedures and laws. Located on the second floor of the Central Library, the Law Library offers access to current legal and law-related information, in both print and electronic form, for personal research and for legal professionals. A Law Librarian is available to provide assistance in locating legal information.

Please note that the staff is not permitted to give legal advice, interpret the law, or recommend legal action.

Law Library Resources

The Public Law Library contains a strong core Virginia collection which is supplemented by Lexis databases. All printed materials are part of the reference collection and cannot be checked out.

The collection includes:
Virginia State codes and Chesapeake City codesZoning ordinancesState administrative regulations

Electronic Research

The following electronic resources are available in the Law Library:

Lexis/Nexis - Provides patron access to all state and federal statutes and cases.

Gale Legal Forms - Full collection of Virginia Legal forms.

Gale Criminal Justice Collection -Whether studying to become a lawyer or law enforcement officer, paralegal, or for a career in Homeland Security, this collection rises to the challenge. Users will have access to hundreds of full-text journals.

Services

The Law Librarian is available to provide introductory training on the print and electronic resources available for individuals at any time or for groups by appointment. The Central Library Reference staff provides assistance with the Law Library when the Law Librarian is unavailable.

The Law Library has one dedicated public access computer with Internet access, Microsoft Office Suite, and Lexis-Nexis and Gale database access. Lexis-Nexis can be accessed simultaneously from one additional computer in the public computer lab. Gale databases are available from an unlimited number of computers, both in the library and remotely, with a library card and PIN. If all computers are in use and people are waiting, patrons will be limited to a 1 hour session.

Printing and copying are available for $0.20 per page for black/white and $0.35 per page for color, payable by cash or credit card via the user's library card. Patrons who need to save their work should supply their own flash drive or other storage device. The staff can also assist patrons with saving items to an online storage system such as Google Docs or Dropbox.